[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 262 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







105th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 262

 To amend title 18, United States Code, to provide for the prospective 
       application of certain prohibitions relating to firearms.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            February 4, 1997

 Mr. Wellstone introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
               referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend title 18, United States Code, to provide for the prospective 
       application of certain prohibitions relating to firearms.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. PROSPECTIVE APPLICATION OF THE DOMESTIC VIOLENCE MISDEMEANOR 
              CONVICTION FIREARMS PROHIBITION.

    (a) Findings.--Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) Spouses, ex-spouses, and current and former boyfriends 
        commit over 1,000,000 violent crimes against women each year, 
        including assault, rape, and murder.
            (2) Approximately 28 percent of all women murdered in the 
        United States each year are killed by current or former 
        husbands or boyfriends.
            (3) Weapons are used in 30 percent of domestic violence 
        incidents.
            (4) Domestic violence calls are one of the largest 
        categories of calls to police each year, and, in some 
        locations, up to one-third of all police time is spent 
        responding to domestic calls.
            (5) Studies show that police are more likely to respond to 
        a reported incident within 5 minutes if the offender is a 
        stranger to the victim and that, police are more likely to take 
        a formal report with respect to an incident in which the 
        offender is a stranger to the victim.
            (6) Studies show that only approximately 10 percent of 
        spouses who are abused ever call the police, in spite of the 
        fact that conjugal assaults account for 12 percent of all 
        assaults that result in serious injury, 16 percent of all 
        assaults requiring medical care, and 18 percent of assaults 
        that result in the loss of at least a full day of work.
            (7) Data compilation suggests that injuries in all domestic 
        assaults are at least as severe as those suffered in 90 percent 
        of violent felonies, although the overwhelming number of 
        domestic violence injuries are considered to be only 
        misdemeanors in most States.
            (8) In the 104th Congress, Congress amended the Federal law 
        that regulates the lawful transfer and possession of firearms 
        and ammunition to provide that an individual's conviction of a 
        misdemeanor crime of domestic violence will prohibit the 
        individual from possessing any firearm or ammunition and will 
        prohibit others from licensing or transferring a firearm or 
        ammunition to that person.
            (9) The term ``misdemeanor crime of domestic violence'' is 
        defined in Federal law as a Federal or State misdemeanor crime 
        that ``has, as an element, the use or attempted use of physical 
        force, or the threatened use of a deadly weapon, committed by a 
        current or former spouse, parent, or guardian of the victim, by 
        a person with whom the victim shares a child in common, by a 
        person who is cohabiting with or has cohabited with the victim 
        as a spouse, parent, or guardian, or by a person similarly 
        situated to a spouse, parent, or guardian of the victim''.
            (10) For purposes of Federal law, to be considered to be 
        convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence, a person 
        must--
                    (A) have been represented by counsel or knowingly 
                waived representation; and
                    (B) have been tried by a jury or knowingly waived 
                trial by a guilty plea or otherwise if entitled to a 
                jury trial for the offense at issue.
            (11) There are exceptions to the new Federal law that may 
        apply to an individual determined to have been convicted of a 
        misdemeanor crime of domestic violence, if ``the conviction has 
        been expunged or set aside, or is an offense for which the 
        person has been pardoned or has had civil rights restored (if 
        the law of the applicable provision provides for the loss of 
        civil rights under such an offense) unless the pardon, 
        expungement, or restoration of civil rights expressly provides 
        that the person may not ship, transport, possess, or receive 
        firearms''.
            (12) Congress clearly intended for this Federal law to 
        apply to peace officers. The general exception to the law for 
        firearms and ammunition that are issued for the use of ``the 
        United States or any department or agency thereof or any State 
        or any department, agency, or political subdivision thereof,'' 
        does not apply to individuals convicted of a misdemeanor crime 
        of domestic violence.
    (b) Unlawful Acts.--Subsections (d)(9), (g)(9), and (s)(3)(B)(i) of 
section 922 of title 18, United States Code, are each amended by 
inserting ``, on or after September 30, 1996,'' before ``of a 
misdemeanor''.
    (c) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall take 
effect as if included in the amendments made by the first section 
designated as section 658 of Public Law 104-208.
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